Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israel says its inclusion on a UN list of human rights violators is “absurd.” Israel renews its "administrative detention" order against a senior Hamas figure. Four Palestinian protesters are injured by occupation forces at a protest near Ramallah. A new poll shows most Palestinians blame both Hamas and Fatah for the impasse in national unity talks. International Muslim organizations are donating $65 million to the health sector in Gaza. Abbas says he still sees PM Netanyahu as a peace partner. Israeli occupation forces order Palestinians to uproot 1,000 olive trees. A new poll confirms that Jewish Americans vastly prefer Pres. Obama over Mitt Romney. A major European supermarket group decides to boycott all products coming from Israeli settlements. Jewish and Muslim student groups are forging new links on some American campuses. COMMENTARY: Moshe Arens says even if it's ordered by the Supreme Court, evicting settlers from outposts is immoral. Akiva Eldar says Obama didn't need former Shin Bet chief Diskin to inform him that Netanyahu is not interested in peace. Bernard Avishai says Diskin's remarks may be the beginning of a stirring of the Israeli majority against present government policies. Kamel Abu Jaber says Israel isn't a safe place for Arab Christians. Uri Avnery says he's still an optimist and the two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict. Gil Troy and Rashid Khalidi continue their debate about the “Museum of Tolerance” being built on the site of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. Raja Shehadeh says Israeli courts have at times softened the harshness of the occupation but this may have counterintuitively led to its perpetuation. Jeffrey Goldberg says that the hard-line positions of his recently deceased father uniquely position Netanyahu to deliver majority Israeli and Jewish opinion for a peace agreement.

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Israel says inclusion on UN list 'absurd' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press April 30, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel's Foreign Ministry has criticized a U.N. statement that places the country on a list of nations it says are moving to further restrict advocacy and rights groups. Spokesman Yigal Palmor on Monday called Israel's inclusion on the list "absurd." The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the statement last week. It criticized an Israeli law requiring groups to report more rigorously on funding from foreign governments. » Read more

Israel renews administrative detention against Hamas member ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 1, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, May 1 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli military court extended the administrative detention of a Hamas lawmaker for six more months, sources from the Islamic movement said Tuesday. The ruling against Hassan Yousef, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from the West Bank, was made on the same day when his six-month term ended, the sources said. » Read more

4 injured at prisoners rally near Ramallah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 1, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Four Palestinians were injured during clashes with Israeli forces near Ofer jail at a demonstration in support of hunger-striking prisoners, medics told Ma'an. Activist Tayseer Arabsha was moderately wounded after being hit in the head by a rubber bullet, Palestinian Red Crescent officials said. Three others were lightly injured by rubber bullets, they added. Protesters gathered near the Ramallah-district military jail to show solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger-strike in Israel jails. » Read more

Poll: Majority blame Fatah, Hamas for unity impasse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 2, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Most Palestinians blame both Fatah and Hamas for the stalling of a deal to reconcile the parties, according to the results of a poll released on Tuesday. The study carried out by Near East Consulting found that 52 percent believe both parties are responsible for the failure to form an interim cabinet to unite the divided governments, as agreed by party leaders in February. » Read more

Islamic groups give $65 million to support Gaza health sector ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 1, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has collected $65 million support for the health sector in the Gaza Strip, a representative said on Monday. The funds will distributed among health service providers in Gaza to ease the crisis besetting the sector, deputy head of humanitarian affairs at the OIC Ataa al-Manane Bakhiti said at a Cairo press conference. Donated by several Islamic organizations, $15 million dollars will be delivered immediately in order to meet the basic needs of medical facilities, Bakhiti said. » Read more

Abbas: I choose Netanyahu as my partner for peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - May 1, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the Tunisian parliament on Monday, "I choose you [Benjamin] Netanyahu as my partner for peace. With whom else can I make peace?" He qualified the unusual statement, however, by adding that Netanyahu must "choose between settlements and peace." Speaking to Tunisia's interim parliament, Abbas reiterated his demands from Israel: halting construction in the settlements, recognition of the two-state solution and acceptance of the principle of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. » Read more

Israel's Civil Administration orders Palestinians to uproot 1,000 young olive trees in nature reserve ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zafrir Rinat - (Opinion) May 1, 2012 - 12:00am Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank has ordered Palestinian villagers to uproot more than 1,000 olive trees because they were planted in a nature reserve. Residents of Deir Istiya said they would fight the order in court, arguing that it violates their right to work privately owned land within the Nahal Kana reserve. » Read more

US Jews vastly prefer Obama to Romney ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - May 1, 2012 - 12:00am BOSTON – US Jewish voters prefer US President Barack Obama to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney by 61 percent to 28%, according to a new American Jewish Committee survey released Monday. Those surveyed also approved more than disapproved of the way Obama has handled what they saw as the major issues in deciding how they would vote, when asked to list their top three: the economy (80%), health care (57%), national security (26%), taxes (26%), the US-Israel relationship (22%) and social security (22%). » Read more

Co-op boycotts exports from Israel's West Bank settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - May 28, 2012 - 12:00am The Co-operative Group has become the first major European supermarket group to end trade with companies that export produce from illegal Israeli settlements. » Read more

Muslim Students: Radicals or Partners? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - (Analysis) May 1, 2012 - 12:00am Washington — In their cautious dialogue with American Muslims, national Jewish groups have long steered clear of the Muslim Students Association, one of the biggest Muslim groups in the country and one that many Jewish communal officials see as extremist. But that red line is increasingly being ignored by Jewish students at colleges across the country, where campus Hillel foundations are finding their local MSA counterparts to be congenial partners for interfaith activities. » Read more

It's wrong to push out Israeli settlers, even if its legal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Moshe Arens - (Opinion) May 1, 2012 - 12:00am The State of Israel rightfully prides itself on being the only democracy in the Middle East. It also takes pride in being a country in which the rule of law prevails. That is no small matter in a country that has had to contend with wars and acts of terrorism throughout the 64 years of its existence and presently faces what might be an existential threat. It is probably without parallel in other democracies throughout history that have had to deal with the kinds of emergencies with which Israel must contend. » Read more

Obama doesn't need Israeli ex-officials to know Netanyahu doesn't want peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) May 1, 2012 - 12:00am True, it would very much benefit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold the election as early as possible, before Kadima chairman MK Shaul Mofaz gains altitude and former media personality Yair Lapid manages to convince people that his nascent party really does have a future. Indeed, Netanyahu would benefit from summoning voters to the ballot boxes before the 2013 budget compels the next government to plunge its hands deep into their pockets. » Read more

Tel Aviv Rising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) April 30, 2012 - 12:00am ''I don't believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic feelings,'' Yuval Diskin, the former head of the Israeli Secret Service said this past week. The gathering was to celebrate Israeli’s Independence Day in the Tel Aviv suburb of Kfar Saba. He was speaking in code. » Read more

Israel is no safe place for Christians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Kamel S. Abu Jaber - (Opinion) April 30, 2012 - 12:00am It has been a long time since I have written anything about Israel or the Arab-Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I told myself I should distance myself a little and think in a cool, dispassionate manner about our Semitic cousins who obviously have made up their mind to play down their, perhaps in their mind, racial relationship with us Arabs. » Read more

Confession of an incorrigible optimist ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) April 30, 2012 - 12:00am No ifs. No buts. No perhapses. Maybe it’s genetic. My father was an optimist. Even when, at the age of 45, he had to flee his native Germany to a primitive little country in the Middle East, his spirits remained high. Though he had to adapt to a new country, a hot climate, hard physical labor and grinding poverty, he was happy. At least he had saved his wife and four children, the youngest of whom was I. Now, on Israel’s 64th birthday (according to the Hebrew calendar), I am still an optimist. » Read more

Response to Rashid Khalidi ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Gil Troy - (Opinion) April 30, 2012 - 12:00am Professor Khalidi is anxious to bar me from the debate about the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem’s building site that adjoins an ancient Moslem graveyard by questioning my credentials. And I guess he is right.  » Read more

A Few Good Lawyers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune by Rajah Shehadeh - (Blog) April 27, 2012 - 12:00am BILIN, West Bank — Earlier this month, I finally watched “The Law in These Parts,” a documentary by the Israeli film director Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, at the 7th International Conference for Popular Resistance. The film describes the legal system that Israel has applied in the Palestinian Occupied Territories since 1967, and it does so exclusively through interviews with members of the Israeli military legal corps who wrote and implemented the system. » Read more

A Peace Legacy for Netanyahu’s Hard-Line Dad? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) April 30, 2012 - 12:00am The historian Benzion Netanyahu, who died today at 102, was sometimes asked to explain the miracle of Jewish survival through millenniums of persecution. Netanyahu -- the father of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin -- would answer the question in a way his interlocutors did not at all expect. » Read more

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